Coping with anxiety - tips?

Rev

Huskyrunner wrote: »

Yes i can totally understand several things you mentioned especially the gp bit, i have being under the same gp for years. I have myself have being functioning for around 6-7 years on and off, i have had periods of 3-4 months where i have being okay then 5-6 months where i have being on the bottom. My gp hasnt being at all helpful, i had too get a medical report from axa via work before he would refer me too a psychiatrist. This is after a family friend said i didnt have depression, a psychiatric nurse with no training lol my nugget of a gp still wouldnt refer me. My gps solution is try this med then get me back then oh right thats not working try this one. In 6-7 years i have being on nearly every antidepressant under the son.

My question would be rev how long have you being on the mirtzapine and do you really think its working. I know its hard going out etc from what your post said, exercise will really really help. Going too a gym 30mins of weights or cardio etc will help trust me. It doesnt have too cost a fortunate either theres plenty of budget gyms these days exercise for less, pure gym, lifestyle fitness etc all 10-20 quid a month.

Try an omega 3 fish oil supplement too, this can help. Studies have shown fishoil and omega 3 capsules have helped with the release and distribuation of serotonin in the brain.

Google fish oil and depression and have a read

Sorry too sound like a pest but i got that sick of my gp and the looney sertraline effects i nearly packed everything in meds wise and went for the herbal/exercise route but then luckily work came in and helped loads.

re meds whatever anyone is saying continue with what your on till you have spoke with your doc.
I was on sertraline until recently but i came off it recently and i feel better 200mg sertraline made me paranoid and i had suicidal thoughts that bad my other half took 3 days off work as i couldnt be left alone.

My GP was utterly useless. I just stopped going in the end. I went a few years back because I had a lump in my breast. He refused to look at it. Didn't ask if I wanted him to bring the nurse in etc as he should have just simply refused to look and told me I'd have to wait until there was a female doctor available (there is a female doctor in the practice but she was on indefinite leave at the time). I went to he drop in centre in the end. Thankfully it was just a small cyst.


Thank you for the suggestion but I'm vegan so fish oil is a no go. I will see if there is a suitable alternative.


I have been on the mertazipine for around two years. Was on a differed one before that. It was given because it's also part sedative to help with sleep but that doesn't work at all now (it really helped for the first few months). I take it at 10pm and am often still wide awake at 6-7am.


Leaving the house in itself is fine. I'm not agoraphobic at all. But once out I worry that something will happen. Someone will break in. I've not turned the oven off. That's where the issues arise. Not in the actually leaving the house. If that makes sense? Sometimes I will come home because I'm just worrying too much.


I'm grateful I have such great friends. They understand and don't pressure me (they don't pander either) they just understand that right now some things are a bit too much for me.

Rev

Primrose wrote: »

Practice deep breathing multiple times a day. Breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 5 seconds, bresthe out for 5 seconds. You will yawn a lot but it has a calming effect.

At the end of each day before you go to sleep, remind yourself of all the things you worried about. Did they happen? No they didn't! If you get into this habit you will slowly start to recognise that many of your fears are over exaggerated and they will start to occupy a lower profile in your mind.

When your mum was alive you had other preoccupations which kept yiur wnxieties at bay. Try slowly to fill your life with other positive activities to fill this gap. While your mind is engaged in positive activities there will be less time to brood over darker issues.

These anxious states don,t change overnight but if you practice positive techniques, you will gradually seize back the initiative and be able to control the situation rather than it controlling you. Get down to your local library and borrow some books on Cognitive Behaviour therapy. Learning some basic coping techniques on adopting an alternative form of reasonng for the issues which are depressing you will also help. Good luck,

Thanks. I will give it a go!

Honestly when my mum was alive worry and anxiety just didn't bother me in the slightest. I would always say what's the point to worrying and I meant it.

I thank that's why I'm finding it so hard, because it's something very new to me.

Huskyrunner

Rev wrote: »

My GP was utterly useless. I just stopped going in the end. I went a few years back because I had a lump in my breast. He refused to look at it. Didn't ask if I wanted him to bring the nurse in etc as he should have just simply refused to look and told me I'd have to wait until there was a female doctor available (there is a female doctor in the practice but she was on indefinite leave at the time). I went to he drop in centre in the end. Thankfully it was just a small cyst.


Thank you for the suggestion but I'm vegan so fish oil is a no go. I will see if there is a suitable alternative.


I have been on the mertazipine for around two years. Was on a differed one before that. It was given because it's also part sedative to help with sleep but that doesn't work at all now (it really helped for the first few months). I take it at 10pm and am often still wide awake at 6-7am.


Leaving the house in itself is fine. I'm not agoraphobic at all. But once out I worry that something will happen. Someone will break in. I've not turned the oven off. That's where the issues arise. Not in the actually leaving the house. If that makes sense? Sometimes I will come home because I'm just worrying too much.


I'm grateful I have such great friends. They understand and don't pressure me (they don't pander either) they just understand that right now some things are a bit too much for me.

bummer re fish oil but any omega 3 oil will help flaxseed oil etc etc google vegan diets too combat depression. Poor diet wont help, eating crap insulin spiking etc etc all can make you moody lead too anxiety

Shot in the dark but you said you have 2 dogs can i ask what breed the dogs are. The reason i ask is there are loads of things you can do with your dogs too get you out more keep you occupied??.

ie showing your dog, agility, canix, behavioural courses, if you have the dogs i have racing them. Getting out everyday and walking your dog is ace but i am thinking more/social knackering you out maybe too help you sleep better

Re the meds if your not sleeping on mirtazipine go back too your gp, if your not sleeping right your body is not gunna go through its sleep cycle right net result hormones and serotonin is not gunna release properly. All this will make you feel low, i have taken mirtazipine in the past and it knocked me out like a light. You need too be sleeping well or its gunna not help your illness

Rev

Huskyrunner wrote: »

bummer re fish oil but any omega 3 oil will help flaxseed oil etc etc google vegan diets too combat depression. Poor diet wont help, eating crap insulin spiking etc etc all can make you moody lead too anxiety

Shot in the dark but you said you have 2 dogs can i ask what breed the dogs are. The reason i ask is there are loads of things you can do with your dogs too get you out more keep you occupied??.

ie showing your dog, agility, canix, behavioural courses, if you have the dogs i have racing them. Getting out everyday and walking your dog is ace but i am thinking more/social knackering you out maybe too help you sleep better

Re the meds if your not sleeping on mirtazipine go back too your gp, if your not sleeping right your body is not gunna go through its sleep cycle right net result hormones and serotonin is not gunna release properly. All this will make you feel low, i have taken mirtazipine in the past and it knocked me out like a light. You need too be sleeping well or its gunna not help your illness

I text my friend as she's also vegan to see if she knew of any vegan alternatives. She mentioned flaxseed and is bringing me some tomorrow as she happened to be in the supermarket she buys them from when I text. Lucky coincidence!
I have two staffy crosses! Sad as it sounds they're why I get up of a morning! They're officially seniors now. Not that you'd know it, typical staffy craziness.

I don't think it's the mertazipine that's causing the lack of sleep, I've had sleep problems for years (long before my mothers passing). But the sedative part of the tablet no longer works. I assume that's because I've been on them a while. When I first started taking them they did knock me out but as time has passed they no longer do.

Huskyrunner

Yes i know that crazyiness i have a 15 year old staffie, we lost her litter sister last year who was mental we thought once one went the other would soon follow but she is fit as. We feed her tins and the mince our 5 huskies get as her teeth are not the best. But bar dodgy nashers she is fine.

Valerian that i mentioned in an earlier post helps me sleep a bit but i dont know how it mixes with mirtzapine. Maybe an idea too still chat with your gp a dose increase maybe an option.

Rev

Huskyrunner wrote: »

Yes i know that crazyiness i have a 15 year old staffie, we lost her litter sister last year who was mental we thought once one went the other would soon follow but she is fit as. We feed her tins and the mince our 5 huskies get as her teeth are not the best. But bar dodgy nashers she is fine.

Valerian that i mentioned in an earlier post helps me sleep a bit but i dont know how it mixes with mirtzapine. Maybe an idea too still chat with your gp a dose increase maybe an option.

They're great aren't they!


One rolls his eyes when he sees his lead like he's only going to humour me haha and he'd much rather be asleep on the sofa.


The other would still be super happy to run around the park for hours on end.


I'll call and make an appointment with the GP tomorrow. My medical records hadn't been transferred over as of last week so hopefully they'll have been sent over.

tiger_eyes

Good luck with getting an appointment with your GP. Hope it goes well.

belfastgirl23

There are a few things I'd suggest.

Firstly, have you thought of taking a good quality probiotic? There is evidence to suggest that depression and anxiety can be linked to your gut flora being out of balance. No guarantee it would help but at the same time, it's worth a try.

Secondly, I came across a book lately called 'overcoming worry' see here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Overcoming-Worry-Mark-Freeston/dp/1845296362 I haven't read it all yet but I've found it quite helpful in thinking about how and why I worry. The other good thing about it is that it treats worry and anxiety as an entirely normal part of human existence, which it is.

Thirdly the exercise advice is excellent. No need to overwhelm yourself but doing something active every day can only help. Personally I find walking a very calming activity and would encourage this particularly. It's worth seeing if you can walk a little further and a little faster bit by bit. Setting yourself manageable goals can also be good, in the sense that if you achieve them it makes you feel good.

Lastly, if you're vegan you really need to think hard about your diet. And if you're hardly eating at all, your blood sugar is probably all over the place anyway. It is relatively easy to be a vegan who eats really badly. Do you eat sugary foods? Honestly in my view sugar is the devil for anxiety and stress. It's what I really want to turn to when I'm stressed but I know for sure it makes me feel strung out and almost tearful after the first high wears off. Even if doing anything else feels too hard, it's worth taking the time to really properly notice how different foods make you feel, both immediately after eating them and a few hours later. By the way when I talk about sugar I'd also include white carbs in that definition unless you have them with other things. Sticking to a higher fat and higher protein diet makes me feel immeasurably better - not low carb but trying to focus on good carbs. It might be different for you but the first step is to build your own consciousness on this.

I think the big challenge for you is that you can feel overwhelmed by advice and end up doing nothing. People have offered you some good solutions here. For now pick one, whatever makes most sense to you, and stick with it. Once you feel you've got a grip on that, add something else. Slow and steady does the trick. But one way and another making a decision and sticking with it can help you start to feel like you can do things, build your confidence and make you feel more in control. Which is a really effective strategy against depression.

And lastly have faith. You have coped before. You've been through a very stressful time and your entire life has changed, it's reasonable that you're feeling as you are. But it will pass. I can say this having suffered very severely from anxiety in the past - it is possible to get over it. I do things routinely now that once would have left me shaking in a corner. I'm not saying I don't ever shake in a corner but it's unusual. Me now can hardly recognise me from ten years ago.

FBaby

My issue is anxiety over things that haven't happened or are beyond my control. Things that MAY happen. Something going wrong with the house. My dogs becoming ill (this one is especially worrying).

I think you've identified the issue yourself, it's your fear of a lack of control that makes you feel this way. It is actually extremely common and indeed, amongst very confident people.

I feel this way about health and accidents, because those are the two things that ultimately, however much I can do to reduce the risk, I have absolutely no control over preventing them.

If you did CBT, it would be about learning to accept that such is life, there are things that you indeed cannot control, and that however frightening the outcome is, if it is going to happen and there is nothing you can do about it. It takes times to learn to accept it, but once you do, you do find yourself not getting so scared of the thoughts when they invade your brain and also find it easier to let them go.

I am repeating myself, but I think that if you are much more vulnerable to such anxiety when you have space left in your brains for the thoughts to take over. If you keep busy with other thoughts, there is much less space and energy for these very unpleasant ones, so my focus would be around filling your brain with thoughts about things you need to do that you do have much control over.

The good thing about people who worry a lot is that it means they think a lot and if that can be turned into positive thinking, then it is high energy to accomplish great things.

VeGGie-STyLe

Huskyrunner wrote: »

.......Sorry too sound like a pest but i got that sick of my gp and the looney sertraline effects i nearly packed everything in meds wise and went for the herbal/exercise route but then luckily work came in and helped loads.

re meds whatever anyone is saying continue with what your on till you have spoke with your doc.
I was on sertraline until recently but i came off it recently and i feel better 200mg sertraline made me paranoid and i had suicidal thoughts that bad my other half took 3 days off work as i couldnt be left alone.

I had the same reaction to Sertraline. It caused the break-up of my relationship at the time because I was SO convinced/terrified that he was plotting to kill me that I ran away in the middle of the night :rotfl:

My dad has just gifted me a Mindfulness-based CBT course from Wowcher (£29) which I'm quite excited to start working through. I learnt some of the concepts when I attended a DBT support group, and at the time I found them very helpful.

Also, just to reiterate what everybody else is saying about healthy diet and exercise. It helps.